Monday, Monday

The president of the ANC Youth League, Julius Malema renowned for his hard-partying, love of fast cars and glib comments – has notched up thousands of rands in unpaid speeding fines in the Johannesburg metro alone. And he does not believe in paying his speeding fines.

His explanation: “I only know revolution, I don’t know anything about driving.”

Malema has 14 outstanding traffic offences worth more than R5 000 to his name. Malema’s top recorded speed was 169km/h in a 120km/h zone on 21 September last year as his jet-black Mercedes Benz C350 sped along the N1 near Midrand. He has yet to pay the R1 100 fine. The previous day he was also photographed as he braked hard and slowed to 146km/h, just seconds too late to evade the speed camera.

Contacted by reporters in the USA, where he is taking part in a junket to “promote South Africa” and “encourage Americans to invest” – Malema once again pulled out the race card.

“Let me tell you my friend, I have defeated you and your apartheid regime and I’m going to defeat you again, once and for all! All of you combined, you can’t do anything. You are wasting your time. I am a child of heroes and heroines of the struggle. I am not a child of cowards and oppressors. I am not a child of an imperialist. I have defeated colonisers. I am going to defeat the children of colonisers.”

The KwaZulu-Natal government have wasted R10-million on "a commission of inquiry into ineffective policing" that produced no results – not even a final report. Provincial Community Safety MEC Willies Mchunu said he viewed the commission’s failure in a serious light, and that he had been informed that despite repeated requests, the commission’s chairman, Advocate Stix Mdladla, had failed to submit a final report, now almost three years overdue.

Mdladla who received payment of more than R2,4m, said: "I’ve got nothing to say." "Unbelievable. He takes R2,4m to perform a function, does not complete it, then has nothing to say," said DA provincial caucus leader John Steenhuisen.

Together with the monies paid to two other commissioners, a secretary and two staffers, the provincial government, according to figures supplied by Mchunu, forked out a total of R9 836 212.33 in taxpayers’ money – enough to have paid the salaries of more than 100 police constables for 15 months. (IOL)

Proteas’ Tournament Hoodoo Continues

The SA national cricket team bowed out in the preliminary stages of tournament yet again last night, when they were defeated by a strong England team at Centurion.

The win by England see them through to the semi-finals of the ICC Champions Trophy tournament at the expense of South Africa who continue to struggle in tournament formats, despite their excellent record and ranking in One Day International matches.

A despondent looking captain, Graham Smith, tried valiantly to ensure that the team made it through despite the heavy challenge set by the English. Scoring a personal highest ODI total of 141, Smith carried his bat through most of the innings, and played superbly. What a pity that the rest of the batting line-up failed to take his lead and follow suit.

The almost 17,000 spectators at Centurion recognised the captains’ efforts, despite the realisation that his dismissal signalled the probable end for the Proteas, with a rousing and appreciative ovation on his dismissal. Sadly, with his and the teams exit from the tournament, it’s unlikely that such a large crowd will be seen at the remaining matches of the tournament. (BBC Sport & CricInfo)

Google Gets Older

Almost everybody’s favourite search engine, Google, turns 11 years old, and the whimsical programmers celebrate by adapting their famous logo with an extra letter "l" on its home page on Sunday, a change that did not escape the notice of the internet.

Within hours of the new logo going live, "why is google spelt wrong" and "why does google have two ls" were two of the most popular search phrases on the web.

Google was formed by Larry Page and Sergey Brin 11 years ago this month – in September 1998 – and the company has in the past altered its doodle to celebrate its own anniversaries. Google has always used its logo as a way of commemorating important historical dates and major world events. (The Telegraph)

Coke Still Tops Global Brand Listing

Interbrands’ annual listing of the global brand giants for 2009 shows that Coca-Cola retains the number one spot in terms of global brand recognition.

Coca-Cola was named the number one global brand for the ninth year, valued at $68,734m. IBM ranked second, up one position from 2008, dislodging Microsoft who moved into third place. GE and Nokia held their 2008 positions at fourth and fifth respectively. McDonald’s brand value grew, moving from eighth to sixth position and up $1,226m. Google jumped three places to position seven. Toyota, Intel and Disney made up the remaining top 10. (Adio Magazine)

Juliarse! What a tool. How dumb does he think the americans actually are? Invest in SA so that we can nationalise your colonial capitalist assets. What a prick and embarrasment to us all, black, white, coloured, indian, merc drivers, vw drivers, men and women. Calling him a doos is an insult too weak.

Perhaps, and its just a thought, until you made an issue out of it, no one else knew that i have had a dream of enlisting in and living the fulfilling life of a Permanent Force member of the SANDF. Now everyone knows……